Author: Nutrition 4 Fighters

Welcome back to What Supp Blog! As ever I aim to bring some of the best information for supplementing your physical and mental performances day in and day out. I’ve got something a little different for y’all today with the focus being on mindset.

In order to develop a focused and balanced mindset, it’s helpful to have outlook that promotes these qualities. This post will hopefully aid that by giving a whistle stop tour of Stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of, in a nutshell, learning to roll with the punches. I’ll give you a brief overview of this practical philosophy then 3 principles to live in stoic way.

The philosophy asserts that behaviour showing high moral standards equates to happiness, and judgment should be based on behaviour, rather than words. A core principle is we don’t control and cannot rely on external events, only ourselves and our responses.

Stoicism has just a few central teachings. It sets out to remind us of how unpredictable the world can be. How brief our moment of life is. How to be steadfast, and strong, and in control of yourself. And finally, that the source of our dissatisfaction lies in our impulsive dependency on our reflexive senses, rather than logic.

Stoicism has been bought back to the fore front in recent years by a few key authors such as Tim Ferris (podcast host extraordinaire), 48 laws of power supremo Robert Greene and the current go to voice of stoicism, Ryan Holiday.

Mr Ryan Holiday has released a few books that are both accessible in language and easy to digest, something some of the original stoic texts can certainly not always be. Below are three key stoic lessons that Ryan recently gave away of Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Radio podcast;

1. Focus on what is in your control and ignore what is out of your control. This is regardless of whether it’s micro or macro issues and themes within daily living.

2. Treat obstacles you encounter as opportunities to do things you couldn’t and/or wouldn’t have done before. This in itself give you opportunity to get better at facing adversity and difficulty.

3. Make time to cultivate moments of stillness in your life, if you won’t, who will? This can be meditation or simply walking unplugged from the world. Either allowing for time to reflect and consider life’s circumstances.

Ok, thanks for reading! If you you liked, please leave a comment and like. Till next time.

Welcome back to what the experts say! Today’s pro tips are for getting the swede firing in all cylinders regarding creativity, learning and organising. We’ve got a cheeky little 3 tip special from 2 mighty fine experts.

First off, couple’a pro tips coming up from Jim Kwick; memory extraordinaire. This guy’s back story is simply stunning. Went from actually being labelled ‘the boy with the broken brain’ at school, to literally being able to remember every name in the room with an aduience of 100 plus. He’s got a short and awesome podcast, and also makes his way round a few more as a guest.

Jim specialises in everything brain power related;

1. If you are seeking some creativity for a project or are feeling stuck, simply have a shower. The calming and being present in the moment effect that a shower can bring puts your brain into the theta state. Theta state is a frequency of the brainwaves, and there’s a number of others including; delta, alpha, beta and gamma. Theta brain waves are those created in a relaxed or meditation state, but are also the best brain state for creative thinking.

2. Wanting to increase your capacity to learn and be smarter? Try learning new physical activities. Your brain’s primary role is to move the body, so by improving your movement patterns you increase your capacity for all learning. Or in a simpler context, if you’re having a block when studying or learning, get up and move around.

Next tip is fromMr Aubrey Marcus. CEO of Onnit, perineal Joe Rogan podcast guest, phycadelic explorer and author of the bio hacking handbook – own the day. Aubrey gives an absolute sh*t ton of tips, tricks and hacks to fully optimise your life or quite simply, own the day. Here’s one planning;

1. Research suggests you can only hold three to four things in your working memory at a time. Therefore, whether planning for the micro or the macro, to keep focused and on task, ensure your plans or to do lists only consist of maximum 4 items. This will help ensure maximum efficiency and productivity.

Hope you enjoyed, till next time, thanks for reading!

Welcome back to the What Supp Blog, where we explore all things nutrition and performance related! Today’s post is a an insight into some of those sweet treat indulgences that are promoted as “healthy options”.

Now first and foremost, a brief disclaimer. I absolutely love to indulge in pretty much everyone one of these treats. From a nutritional standpoint I often think ‘right or wrong’ choices is not always a good way to look at it. As is often the way, it’s not that black and white.

Choices

Many of the bars I highlight below, in terms of choices, are far better options than your regular chocy bar. That’s if you are wanting to indulge your sweet tooth of course. Most are cold pressed, with “all natural” ingredients and no added vegetable oils or highly processed sugars and syrups . These are all a bonuses of course, and again, make them a better choice than a Snickers.

Most of these bars are simple, devoid of preservatives and in relative terms, won’t spike your blood sugars to the same degree as many a high sugar laden treat. Or will they. For those that don’t know, the continual raising of blood sugars, or glucose, is what can cause weight gain, metabolic disfunction and disease.

Metabolising Sugar

In a nut shell, you breakdown carbohydrates (essentially sugars & starches), and to a degree protein, into glucose which causes the release of the hormone insulin. Insulin carries the glucose around your body to the hungry cells for energy. When each cell is full, the remainder gets stored as fat. This is of course a natural bodily function. Where things go wrong is the excessive over spiking of insulin on a continual, multiple times a day basis. This can lead to your cells becoming insulin resistant at worse, and at best, foggy head, mood swings and a build up of inflammation in the body.

Now it’s beyond the scope of this post to give a full detailed description of all the what’s and why’s of excessive insulin spikes, but needless to say most will agree that excessive sugar ain’t doing nothing for nobody.

All Sugar Equal?

Again, and I can’t emphasise this enough, on the spectrum of good choice/bad choice, many of these paleo/vegan/gluten free bars rank a flip of a lot closer to good than a Twicks. But, know what you’re eating. Whether it’s organic coconut palm sugar, white processed table sugar, honey or even a high glycemic fruit like a date, it’s all the same (or very similar) to your body – sugar.

Don’t get too bogged down either with fructose (fruit sugar that is also isolated and manufactured in many products), sucrose (table sugar) or glucose, (blood sugar). They all have a detrimental impact. Glucose will raise blood glucose levels most rapidly of all the sugars and therefore increase insulin secretion. Whereas fructose will have the least effect on glucose and insulin, but it will raise triglycerides levels, (basically fat in your blood stream). This can actually be far nastier, leading to cardiovascular disease and weight gain. Sucrose will break down to glucose in the body and many products will have combinations of these sugars.

Snack Time

Here’s a list of some of the sweet treats options that are open to you. I have scoured the supermarkets of the UK and the least processed, closest to healthy options appear to come from Nakd, Primal Pantry, Planet Organic and some dark chocolate brands. There are obviously others but these appear to be the most readily available.

I’ve basically included dark chocolate as when the nutritional content is considered, it actually has a far greater claim on being a healthy energy bar than many other options out there. For more on why dark chocolate, have a read of this previous post about human’s real best friend; http://whatsuppblogblog.com/2017/03/05/chocolate-a-superfood/

Soo, just quickly before we look at that indulgent lil afternoon snack list, here’s a quick note on the side. I have not included any bars which contain oats. Oats have a high carbohydrate content and many of the options on the market that I checked included the likes of rice bran syrup, apple/grape concentrate, fructose etc etc. All of these little offenders are titled differently to divert the consumer from the fact they are buying sugar. So basically that’s just more sugar on your sugar.

The brands

Nakd

First up we got Nakd bars. These little numbers are both pretty damn affordable and pretty damn tasty.

Natural balance foods, the creators of Nakd bars, state their bars are “completely different to other cereal bars because they’re made with a wholefood approach, which means that we believe in minimal processing and we don’t add any sugar, syrups or mysterious additives to your food.”

See the below list of Nakd products and their accompanying sugar content starting with the lowest content offering:

– 12 grams of sugar in 35g pecan pie nakd bar

– 12.4 grams of sugar in 35g ginger bread nakd bar

– 13.6 grams of sugar in 35g peanut delight nakd bar

– 13.6 grams of sugar in 35g cocoa orange nakd bar

– 13.7 grams of sugar in 35g cashew cookie nakd bar

– 14.3 grams of sugar in 35g apricot crunch nakd bar

– 15.6 grams of sugar in 35g carrot cake nakd bar

– 15.9 grams of sugar in 35g cocoa delight nakd bar

– 16 grams of sugar in 35g Bakewell tart nakd bar

– 16.6 grams of sugar in 35g berry delight nakd bar

– 16.7 grams of sugar in 35g cocoa coconut nakd bar

– 17.7 grams of sugar in 35g lemon drizzle nakd bar

– 18.2 grams of sugar in 35g blueberry muffin nakd bar

– 19.3 grams of sugar in 40g pack of coconut bliss nakd fruit & nut nibbles

– 20.2 grams of sugar in 40g pack of salted caramel nakd fruit & nut crunch nibbles

Planet Organic

Alrighty, next we have Planet Organic’s own range of grain free bars. Planet Organic is basically a paleo/vegan/nutrition bod’s wet dream. All the food sold there is in line with three key principles; organic (funnily enough), natural and sustainable.

– 7.8 grams of sugar in 30g Planet Organic Chia Vanilla Energise Bar

– 7.8 grams of sugar in 30g Planet Organic Chia Vanilla Energise Bar

– 8.4 grams of sugar in Planet Organic Cacao Brazil Nut Energise Bar

– 9 grams of sugar in 30g Planet Organic Goji Pumpkinseed Energise Bar

Primal Pantry

Right, next up Primal Pantry. These bars clearly align themselves to the paleo lifestyle. This can be seen with some great combinations including coconut and macadamia nuts (awesome omega 3 to 6 ratio) being a personal fave.

The Primal Pantry fames itself having been created by a qualified nutritionist. As their site states; “The award-winning Primal Pantry bars contain no added nasties or funky sounding names, just honest, simple ingredients that can be found in your own kitchen cupboard.”

We’ve got the standard and smaller version bars first, followed by the larger protein bars after:

– 14.9 grams sugar in 45g coconut & macadamia bar / 9.9 grams sugar in 30g bar

– 15 grams of sugar in 45g açai & super-seed bar

– 16.1 grams of sugar in 45g almond & cashew bar / 10. 7 grams of sugar in 30g bar

16.9 grams of sugar in 45g apple & pecan 45g bar /

– 17.1 grams of sugar in 45g brazil nut & cherry bar

– 17.5 grams of sugar in 45g hazelnut & cocoa bar / 11.7 grams of sugar in 30g bar

Primal Pantry Protein Bars

– 20 grams of sugar in 55g cocoa brownie hemp protein bar

– 21 grams of sugar in 55g cocoa orange hemp protein bar

– 21 grams of sugar in 55g double espresso hemp protein bar

– 22 grams of sugar in 55g mixed berry hemp protein bar

Dark Chocolate

Below are 3 bars that are pretty much widely available in most spots at the snack counter.

– 10.15 grams sugar in 70% 35g lint bar

( 29 grams in 100g lint bar )

– 10 grams of sugar in green & blacks organic 35g bar 70% ( 28.5 grams of sugar in 100g bar )

– 10.46 grams of sugar in 26g 72% willie’s cocoa Venezuelan bar

Conclusion

Right, so hopefully you’ve had a little scan through. Just to emphasise the point, and this is a big one; a quarter of a teaspoon of sugar equals one gram. So basically a full teaspoon equals 4 grams of sugar.

As can be seen, some of these bars have a pretty shockingly high sugar count, even some of the 35 gram bars, (although do bear in mind size differentiation). The Planet Organic hit some impressive low scores but again, size matters, they’re only 30grams a pop.

The dark chocolate has, as can be clearly seen, an impressive lower sugar content also. For those going low carb or keto, this makes it a clearly better choice. As already highlighted, there are a number of other benefits to consuming chocolate. Be weary though, these diminish with lower percentage cocoa bars and experts will argue that the nutritional value is negligible under 70% – 80% cocoa.

Timing

This is not to discount the value of the all natural ingredients in the bars we looked at. As with most things in life, timing is all important. Especially when looking to consume any particular carbohydrates or sugar.

So, if having a bar such as those discussed, the numero uno time would be post exercise. Although this may seem counter intuitive, as the treat will give the body calories and exercise will subsequently burn it off, it’s a tad more newonced than that.

This is primarily as your body is looking to replenish it’s depleted glycogen (energy) stores and is eager for them to be replenished. So in a nutshell your body is in the right metabolic state to use the carbohydrate and sugars being given to it.

A less optimal time to cram in on sugars and carbs, especially non complex carbs, would be the morning or evening, especially having completed no exercise prior. Adding any sugars first thing is a sure fire way to ensure blood sugar roller coasters and food cravings throughout the day.

So if you are looking to move away from sugar, which you damn well should be, start reading labels. Hope you’ve found this post interesting! If so, please like, share and leave a comment. Big love to you for reading.

Alrighty, welcome to the super sharp pro tips 2 minute read! As ever, these are some bite size morsels that come straight from the horses mouth,(so to speak).

Today’s pro tips are in regards to using a couple of nutrition hacks to get the best out of your recovery from exercise. We’ve got 3 lovely little tip bits for you today, so enjoy and go forth and improve your athletic performance!

The first two tips are from biohacker extrodinaire, Mr Ben Greenfield. I’ve spoken about him in the previous professional tips post so have a look for a tad more info. Saying that, here’s a pro tip via me; check his podcast series and interviews in Joe Rogan’s JRE podcast. Now.

1. Be mindful of the blunting hormone response post exercise of antioxidants, this is particularly true of high amounts of vitamin C or A. The antioxidant profile of coffee however is very similar to green tea polyphenols, which do not blunt the hormedic response to exercise! For instance, research shows coffee post workout enhances glycogen restoration into your body, if consuming a meal.

2. Needing recovery during the workout? You could do far worse than start swapping out your daily mineral water with Pellegrino sparkling water. This is a good source (and Pellegrino the highest source) or sodium bicarbonate, which buffers lactic acid build up during heavy workouts. Taking straight backing soda to achieve this often causes gut distress, so this is a good way to progressively load throughout the day prior to an evening workout.

Ok, last tip is from one of the sleep masters, mr Nick Littlehales. Nick is the leading elite sport sleep coach to the biggest names in the sporting world, including British Cycling and Team Sky’s recording-breaking cyclists, top Premiership and international football clubs, including doing extensive work with the treble winning 1999 Manchester Utd team.

Although we’ll revisit some sleep tips in a later post, try this for recovery;

1. Nick recommends in his excellent book Sleep, Montmorency tart cherries for recovery from exercise. They can also increase melatonin, the natural sleep hormone produced when you’re ready to nod off. Sleep is of course probably one of the single biggest factors to aiding recovery.

Alrighty, there we have it. 3 tips to nutritionally aid your recovery. Till next time.